Me & My Stuff, Parting 1

When I decided to move, as a matter of fact every time I've decided to move, I encounter the question, "Where do I go?" This question encompasses more than just me, it's me and my stuff.

The house I owned in 2008 was 1800 square feet, 950 was the main cottage, 850 was a separate guest house, not counting the 2 car garage which had so much stuff in I couldn't park my truck in it.

When I moved to my new apartment in 2011, it was 1000 square feet less and no garage, meaning three quarters of the stuff had to go. Naturally, I decided to have a yard sale because I was so sure I'd make some money on that. Not!

I ended up giving most of what I planned to sell away to local charity resale store and the rest I packed up with the other stuff. Then I moved. My dad and uncle were the two main unloaders while I stayed in the U-Haul and mom organized boxes coming in the apartment.

"Where does this go?" Dad asked. He and my uncle peered up from the ground looking like gnomes weighted down by boulders instead of men with moving boxes.  

"Oh, that's books. Put it in the living room," I said as I continued to moved boxes to get to the dolly. It took my dad and uncle several trips from truck to living room before the dolly was unearthed.

On one return trip, my uncle ask exasperated and not really expecting an answer, "How many of these are there?" More trips of book boxes with the dolly then it was on to moving out the furniture.

"Is that it?" Dad's question echoed through the truck.  

"Yes..." I answered before glancing up. "Oh, uh, no. Looks like there's more book on the U-Haul shelf thing."

The dolly was loaded again and rolled into the living room. I entered to find my mom staring at a room half-filled, shoulder high with book boxes.

"That's a lot of books," Mom said dryly before turning to me, "Where do you plan to put them?"

"I don't know." 

Think about that... about half of the boxes I moved were books. That's a lot of boxes. Heck, that's a lot of books. Some of the books were from my grandfather's library which I inherited, the rest were all mine. After that move and the realization that I might have to move again, I decided I didn't want to move that many books... ever.

***

One of the categories under my American Dream is "A better quality of life." Through my experience with buying a house, I had already begun to question the cost of realty and largess of housing sizes. It didn't seem efficient or sustainable which the market crash was proving. But no one was talking about alternatives, or so I thought until I came across the "Tiny House Movement."  Then it clicked and with this realization, others followed (but that's a subject for later).

One of the key points of discussion in the Tiny House Community is stuff in a smaller space and having a place for the stuff. I was already experiencing this with my move, but the Tiny House Community has a slightly different way of looking at, organizing and utilizing their stuff and their space. This was a mentality I wanted to adopt and I started with my books.

When I moved I left some good friends behind, especially a family with two boys who are very special to me. They knew of my love of reading and books, for I always carried a book in my purse when I came over to babysit, help with science fair projects or just dropped in. As a going away gift, they gave me a Kindle.

That first night in my new place with my books still packed in the other room, I snuggled down in my bed and tried to sleep. I couldn't do it. I always read before bed but had no desire to mine through boxes for a particular book that was now like a chocolate craving that can only be fixed with consumption. No book would do but this one particular book. 

I trudged from my bed, retrieved my purse and pulled out the book I had finished the night before, thinking I could read something... anything, when I saw the Kindle.  

Oh, I thought. Could I buy the book?

Why buy the book when I already have it? I rationalized. That's wasteful.

Well, let's see how much it cost first. I excused. Hmm, not bad. Half the price of regular book. I could sell the hardcopy and it would pay for purchase. 

So I bought it. I pulled the plush comforter under my arms and was reading in seconds.

The next morning I remembered what I'd done. Could I do that with all my books?   

I spent many evening unpacking books, checking the titles against available Amazon Kindle titles, taking those that could be purchased digitally to Half Price Books and collecting the income which was used to purchase Kindle editions. Within a week I was left with only my grandfather's library and one box of my science fiction that was OP.

This was the first moment where I felt like I correctly utilized a Tiny Space solution. I know all solutions won't be this easy but the situation proved that there was a solution to find.

Streamlining to be continued...